The Atlantic: Ukraine Is Preparing A Sharp Escalation Of Attacks On Russian Airports
- 15.10.2026, 19:44
- 1,172
The campaign to block the skies in Russia is reaching a new level.
The Ukrainian operation to paralyze Russian airports—which residents of Moscow and other major cities experienced firsthand in October—will soon enter a new, significantly more intense phase, according to The Atlantic by Ukrainian officials directly involved in developing the plan.
So far, Ukraine has only used long-range drones to swarm the airspace near airports, forcing aviation authorities to close runways, but without directly striking aviation infrastructure. Even this tactic led to a collapse at Moscow’s airports: during the week of October 3–9, 345 flights were canceled, and nearly 4,000 were delayed—sometimes by 10 hours or more.
On October 10, 692 flights were delayed and 93 were canceled; on October 14, the figures were 238 and 124, respectively. On average, the airports in the capital’s aviation hub were closed for about 3 hours each day. On Friday, October 9, even Vladimir Putin’s plane was unable to land in Moscow on its way back from Turkmenistan, as two of the four airports were closed to all flights for seven hours during the raid.
But this is only the beginning of an operation codenamed M&Ms, sources told The Atlantic. According to them, a more ambitious version involves the use of AI-controlled drones that would bypass air defense systems and strike airports directly. These drones, which do not require U.S. intelligence, will soon be mass-produced, the publication’s sources emphasized.
According to one of them, the first such drone has already been used in combat operations in Donbas, although its development is still ongoing. Such UAVs have not yet been used against Russian airports, the source added.
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